1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to manufacturing and, in particular, to manufacturing vehicles. Still more particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for assembling vehicles in a manufacturing environment.
2. Background
The assembly of an aircraft is an extremely complex process. Hundreds of thousands of parts may be assembled for an aircraft.
The assembly of an aircraft may involve manufacturing different parts of the aircraft in geographically diverse locations. These different parts may then be finally assembled in a single location. For example, different portions of a fuselage of a composite aircraft may be assembled in different locations and flown to a central location where the final assembly line is located. Additionally, other parts such as engines, auxiliary power units, seats, computer systems, line replaceable units, or other components in aircraft may be shipped to this final location for assembly to form the assembled aircraft.
The assembly of the different parts involves assigning tasks to different operators. The assignment of these tasks may take the form of shop order instances. Each shop order instance may include instructions and an identification of parts for a particular assembly in the aircraft.
Operators performing the assembly of an aircraft use shop order instances to determine what tasks they will perform on a daily basis. For example, an operator may identify a task to perform in a shop order instance. The shop order instance identifies the parts to be assembled, work instructions for assembling the parts, and a location where the assembly should be performed.
When an operator identifies a shop order instance assigned to that operator, the operator then identifies the different parts for assembly. Currently, the operator is unable to identify the context of other parts in the aircraft with respect to the part to be assembled. In other words, the operator is not shown the location on the aircraft for the parts to be assembled. Further, the operator is also unable to view other parts that may already be located on the aircraft. In some cases, the assembly of the parts assigned to the operator may depend on the prior assembly of other parts in the aircraft.
Currently, the identification of the location in the shop order instance often takes the form of coordinates in an aircraft. Based on these coordinates, the operator may perform research in databases and computer-aided design models to identify where the assembly should occur. This process may be more time-consuming than desired. Further, it may be difficult to resolve the location information to an actual location on the plane. The increased amount of time may increase the time to assemble an aircraft more than desired. As a result, the number of aircraft that are produced during a period of time may not be as great as desired or those aircraft may be assembled at a greater cost than desired.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a method and apparatus that takes into account at least some of the issues discussed above, as well as other possible issues.